Neuroscience For Kids

Do Dogs Catch Yawns?
August 26, 2009

Last year, Neuroscience for Kids described an
experiment that showed how 72% of dogs were susceptible to contagious
yawning by watching people yawn. New research suggests otherwise; this
new study found that few dogs yawned when they watched
videos of people or other dogs yawn.

Researchers in the Department of Psychology at Hiram College (Hiram,
Ohio) tested 15 dogs (ages 2-11 years old). They had the dogs watch video
clips of dogs and people yawning or making open-mouth movements.

Results:

Number of yawns after watching dog yawning videos
compared to the number of yawns after watching dog open-mouth (no yawn)
videos - NO DIFFERENCE!

Number of yawns after watching human yawning
videos compared to the number of yawns after watching human open-mouth (no
yawn) videos - NO DIFFERENCE!

Only one of the 15 (6.7%) dogs showed more yawns after watching
yawning videos, and most of these yawns were made after watching human
yawns, not dog yawns).

This
new study used different methods to measure contagious yawning behavior.
Unlike the earlier study that used real human subjects, the new study used
videos of yawning people and dogs. It is likely that dogs react
differently to real people than they do to watching videos. Also, dogs
may respond differently to unfamiliar people (and dogs).